Wednesday, April 4, 2007

It’s been a week since I started whining about when we’re going to see some green around here, some indication that the vernal equinox has in fact landed in the Mid-Atlantic States. It’s making an appearance in Chicago, California and the UK, but the buds have to be teased out all over my borough of trees. I probably shouldn’t complain too vigorously; we could be in Maine, a state that jokes about its eight-month-long winters. When Scott and I honeymooned there last September (yes, we went to Red’s Eats), there was a flurry of construction activity making time before the weather changed. There were also many businesses already shuttered for the end of tourist season. No one but us stragglers around.

A tomatillo.

A charred Anaheim pepper.

I’ll have to take matters into my own kitchen-crafty hands again, and conjure up the green man. I have a sack full of tomatillos and a pair of Anaheim peppers ready for the ritual. And make no mistake, charring, peeling and seeding peppers is a ritual not for the impatient; if you shortcut the blistering of the skin, you will make up the time with more tedious and frustrated peeling. Take care, too, when you cut and seed the serrano, the little sneak. He pretends he’s just a smooth and timid pipsqueak of a pepper, added more for color than bite, but with up to 15,000 units on the Scoville Chart, your skin will blister, too, if you touch your fingers to your mouth. That’s what’s so delightfully deceiving about Salsa Verde, so cool yet devilishly hot. It’s green for danger.

Love tomatillo salsa (which in our household is called "the green stuff"). Many of my friends have huge vegetable gardens, and last year I asked a few of them to plant tomatillos for me. What I got at the end of the summer were jars and jars of homemade salsa -- how cool is that?

It's not a difficult sauce to make, Shawnda, but it is a bit time consuming to char, peel and seed the peppers. Your efforts, however, will be rewarded since fresh anything always tastes best. I'm glad you like it. Thanks!

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I cook and bake in that cute little galley kitchen up there. It's not as tidy as it used to be, and the walls are a deep tagine red now, but it's a cozy, homey space where you are always welcome to drop in. You can reach me at thewellseasonedcook AT yahoo DOT com. I'd be delighted to hear from you.